Pret a Manger to launch coffee subscription service

The food-to-go specialist, which has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, will unveil its ‘YourPret Barista’ scheme in stores across the UK next week. 

Subscribers will be able to order up to five hot drinks, smoothies or frappés a day using unique QR codes for a fixed price of £20 a month.

Customers signing up to the new scheme will get their first month free of charge. 

‘YourPret Barista’ will be accessed via customers’ emails, smartphones or digital wallets – a move Pret hailed as a “first major step” in its multichannel strategy. 

It said the creation of a “digital ecosystem” will allow the business “to develop insight and data-led products and services” based on subscriber behaviours. 

Pret also hopes the move will bring more customers back into its shops following a turbulent period of trading.

Earlier this month, the chain revealed plans to axe 2,800 staff and shut 30 stores as it adapts to what it called a “changed retail environment”. 

Sales have slumped to around £5m a week during lockdown – the same level they were at a decade ago – as people continue to work from home, rather than in the city centres where many of Pret’s shops are located. 

Although its top line is beginning to bounce back – sales have grown by an average of 7% a week since July – Pret is pressing ahead with a series of digital and multichannel drives designed to accelerate its recovery and open up new revenue streams.

Back in May, Pret launched its first retail range of organic coffee products, which are being sold through Amazon.  

It said the FMCG launch represented “the beginning of a wider retailer offering” and added that other products were already “under development for future release”.

And in June, Pret started piloting a click-and-collect service in five of its London stores through a partnership with Deliveroo.  

Pret chief executive Pano Christou said: “This is just the first step in our plan to bring Pret to more people. We now have the building blocks to establish Pret as a multichannel, digitally led business, and YourPret Barista is the first big launch we’re able to deliver through our new technology platform.

“Since reopening back in May, our coffee sales have been rising faster than food – evidence that coffee has become an integral part of both our customers’ everyday routines and the Pret experience.”